NR 503 Week 1 Discussion: Exercise and Discussion Questions from Curley Text Book
Go to the end of Chapter 2: Identifying Outcomes, in your Curley course
... [Show More] text. Under “Exercises and Discussion Questions” select Exercise 2.5 OR 2.6 and respond in a minimum of two (2) paragraphs of 4-5 sentences each. You should address each bullet point in the exercise you select. Your work should have in-text citations integrating at a minimum one scholarly article from this week’s readings and course textbook. APA format should … utilized to include a reference list. Correct grammar, spelling, and APA should … adhered to when writing, work should be scholarly without personalization or first person use.
Exercise 2.5 Diabetes affects a growing number of Americans. You have been invited to join a collaborative of community agencies … in tackling diabetes from a community perspective.
What resources will you use to identify different outcomes related to diabetes?
What outcomes related to diabetes are of most interest to community members?
How will you compare the outcomes you select to monitor at the local level with state and national outcomes?
Exercise 2.6 APRNs should not only recognize but also make it part of their practice to develop strategies to reduce or eliminate health disparities. Review information from Healthy People 2020 and the CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities websites.
What health disparities can you find that are relevant to your community?
How can you better advocate for minority groups who have poorer health outcomes?
What specific objectives in Healthy People 2020 can help this effort?
Respond to exercise post of two peers. Faculty posts are in addition to the two peer posts.
ANSWER
The preventable differences that “socially disadvantaged populations” have related to injury, violence, the burden of disease, or even the achievement of an ideal level of health are known as health disparities (HD) (CDC, 2018). Several factors define a population (CDC, 2018). These factors include: education, gender, income, disability, race, geographic location, sexual orientation, and/or ethnicity (CDC, 2018). HDs are unjust and are associated with the imbalanced disbursement of resources (CDC, 2018). HD can be caused by a wide range of factors (Curley & Vitale, 2016). These include unequal educational opportunities, threats from the environment, insufficient access to healthcare, poverty level, behavioral and individual factors, housing, access to clean water and fresh food, physical or mental disability, work environment, and socioeconomic status (Curley & Vitale, 2016). Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) have a moral commitment to care about people and must continually fight against these inequities (Pearson , 2012). These APRNs understand that most chronic health related issues are correlated with the injustices of society (Pearson , 2012).
Understanding a community’s needs aids in serving the community more efficiently (Ballad Health, 2018). This can be accomplished by performing a needs assessment that aids in the visualization of the health status of its inhabitants (Ballad Health, 2018). In the health needs assessment, performed by Ballad Health, for Dickenson County, Virginia, it was determined that socioeconomic status plays a big role in the health of its population (Ballad Health, 2018). Most of the households in Dickenson County have a significantly lower household income than the rest of the state (Ballad Health, 2018). For Dickenson County in 2018, the average household income was $25,000-$50,000. However, for the state, the average was around $68,144 (Ballad Health, 2018). Only 35% of the population in Dickenson County has a high school diploma and only 10% have a bachelor’s level education or higher (Ballad Health, 2018). Another HD in Dickenson County is access to care (Ballad Health, 2018). Dickenson County only has four primary care offices and for specialized care, individuals must travel upwards to 50 miles to receive treatment (Ballad Health, 2018).
APRNs are in a prime position to aid in the elimination of HD (Curley & Vitale, 2016). APRNs can support minority groups that have poor health outlooks in a number of ways (Curley & Vitale, 2016). These include (but are not limited to) advocating for better/more affordable health insurance for them and making sure that health services are sufficient in the underserved area (Curley & Vitale, 2016).
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published Healthy People 2020 in December 2010 (Curley & Vitale, 2016). This initiative functions as a roadmap for the U.S. in the achievement of specific heath objectives (Curley & Vitale, 2016). These objectives were established to aid in the improvement of all Americans (Curley & Vitale, 2016). The specific objectives that can aid in efforts to reduce HDs include:
• AHS-1.1 Increase the proportion of persons with medical insurance
• AHS-3 Increase the proportion of persons with a usual primary care provider
• AHS-4.1 (Developmental) Increase the number of practicing medical doctors
• AHS-4.4 (Developmental) Increase the number of practicing nurse practitioners
• HC/HIT-1.1Increase the proportion of persons who report their health care provider always gave them easy-to-understand instructions about what to do to take care of their illness or health condition
(HP2020, 2019)
References
Ballad Health. (2018). Community Health Needs Assessment: Dickenson Community Hospital. Retrieved from Ballad Health: https://www.balladhealth.org/community-health-needs-assessment
CDC. (2018, August 17). Health Disparities. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/index.htm
Curley, A. L., & Vitale, P. A. (2016). Population-Based Nursing: Concepts and Competencies for Advanced Practice (Second ed.). New York: Springer Publishing Company.
HP2020. (2019). Data2020 Search. Retrieved from Healthy People 2020: https://www.healthypeople.gov/
Pearson , G. S. (2012). The concept of social justice for our psychiatric nursing practice. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 48, 185-186. [Show Less]